“If Shakespeare were alive today, he might be writing on Twitter.”

—  Ai Weiwei

Osnos, Evan. “ It’s Not Beautiful: An Artist Takes On the System http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/05/24/100524fa_fact_osnos?currentPage=all.” New Yorker, May 24, 2010, 54–63.
2010-, 2010

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "If Shakespeare were alive today, he might be writing on Twitter." by Ai Weiwei?
Ai Weiwei photo
Ai Weiwei 218
Chinese concept artist 1957

Related quotes

Peter Ustinov photo

“If Botticelli were alive today he'd be working for Vogue.”

Peter Ustinov (1921–2004) English actor, writer, and dramatist

As quoted in The Observer (21 October 1968); a punctuation variant occurs in some publications: "If Botticelli were alive today, he'd be working for Vogue."

Michael Badnarik photo

“If he were alive today I would assasinate that S. O. B myself (Speaking of Franklin D. Roosevelt).”

Michael Badnarik (1954) American software engineer

Constitution Class

Edward Albee photo

“If Attila the Hun were alive today, he'd be a drama critic.”

Edward Albee (1928–2016) American playwright

As quoted in Theater Week (1988); also in The Book of Poisonous Quotes (1993) edited by Colin Jarman, p. 100

Kurt Vonnegut photo
Katherine Mansfield photo

“Were we positive, eager, real — alive? No, we were not. We were a nothingness shot with gleams of what might be.”

Katherine Mansfield (1888–1923) New Zealand author

Letter to John Middleton Murry (11 October 1922), from The Letters of Katherine Mansfield, edited by J. Middleton Murry (1928)

Erica Jong photo
Aleister Crowley photo

“The best models of English writing are Shakespeare and the Old Testament”

Aleister Crowley (1875–1947) poet, mountaineer, occultist

First and only letter to his son Aleister Ataturk (May 1947), as quoted in Do What Thou Wilt : A Life of Aleister Crowley (2000) by Lawrence Sutin, p. 416.
Context: The best models of English writing are Shakespeare and the Old Testament, especially the book of Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. … In writing English the most important quality that you can acquire is style. It makes all the difference to anyone who reads what you write, whether you use the best phrases in the best way.

Biz Stone photo

“Many iconic features of Twitter have been created over the years by listening and watching what people who use Twitter do with it and then working to make it easier and better for them—we still do this today.”

Biz Stone (1974) American blogger; co-founder of Twitter

Twitter Blog: "The hashtag at 10 years young" https://blog.twitter.com/official/en_us/topics/product/2017/the-hashtag-at-ten-years-young.html (23 August 2017)

Paulo Lins photo

“The world of the favela today is much more cruel than when I was growing up there or even as I show it in my book…If I were to write about the way things are today, I would start the book with a pile of rubber tires, gasoline and someone being burned alive.”

Paulo Lins (1958) Brazilian author

On how the favela has changed since his time in “THE SATURDAY PROFILE; Out of the Slums of Rio, an Author Finds Fame” https://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/26/world/the-saturday-profile-out-of-the-slums-of-rio-an-author-finds-fame.html in The New York Times (2003 Apr 26)

Related topics